Grande Arche de la Défense

La Défense’s draw card is the Grande Arche (Great Arch) – a remarkable, cube-like structure, 110m square, of white Carrara marble, grey granite and glass. It’s constructed out of 3600 prefabricated cases, each 2.8m square and 800g in weight, and the entire construction rests on a dozen 30m-tall underground pillars. Scale the cigarette-butt-littered steps to the foot of this incredible arch free of charge and ponder its meaning as ‘a window to the world, a symbol of hope for the future; that all men can meet freely’. Or pay to travel 1.6m per second to the ‘roof’ on the 35th floor, where temporary art exhibitions hang out alongside scaled models of the arch, a video showing its construction, a museum that presents the history of computing (Musée de l’Informatique), a ticky-tacky souvenir shop and a soulless restaurant that, incredibly, boasts no view (avoid).

Most interesting is the outlook from the roof terrace over the 8km-long Axe Historique (Historic Axis), begun in 1640 by André Le Nôtre of Versailles fame and stretching from the Louvre’s glass pyramid, along av des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, Porte Maillot and finally the Esplanade du Général de Gaulle. The Grande Arche, home to government and business offices, marks the western end of this axis, although its maker, Danish architect Johan-Otto von Sprekelsen, deliberately placed the arch fractionally out of alignment with the Axe Historique (who wants perfection?!). Be aware that access to the roof was suspended indefinitely for security reasons in 2011; however, it may reopen in the future.